Tag: ITV

Moonbase Alpha receives a transmission directed specifically toward it – and it appears to originate from Earth. The voice from Earth claims that the year there is now 2029, and that the technology is available on Earth to bring the Alpha crew home. Though skeptical, Koenig agrees to give the project a try. As the crew works toward building a device to return them to 21st century Earth, they learn that things have changed on Earth – it’s become a barren planet with sealed, domed cities and more earthquakes than before. After a successful test of the long-range transport system, Commander Koenig, Dr. Russell and Tony volunteer to be the first live test subjects, but when a freak earthquake strikes the domed city that the Alpha crew is attempting to reach, they find themselves in a jungle and they don’t even know if it’s on Earth.

written by Donald James
directed by Tom Clegg
music by Derek Wadsworth

Guest Cast: Tony Anholt (Tony Verdeschi), Nick Tate (Alan Carter), Freddie Jones (Dr. Logan), Isla Blair (Carla), Jeffery Kissoon (Dr. Ben Vincent), Yasuko Nagazumi (Yasko), Roger Bizley (MacDonald), Laurence Harrington (Jackson), Norwich Duff (1st Operative, Texas), Peggy Page (The Old Crone)

Notes: Recognize the “test package” sent to Earth by Alpha? It’s a repainted model of the atmosphere-spewing probe from The Last Sunset.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

A power loss cripples Moonbase Alpha and freezes the crew as a humanoid woman materializes in the command center. Claiming to be curious about humanity, she abducts Dr. Russell and Tony Verdeschi with a promise to return them unharmed. Despite this, Koenig begins making rescue preparations as soon as the Moonbase’s uninvited visitor leaves. Dr. Russell and Tony find themselves on an alien world when lifelike robots have turned the tables on their former masters; the humans are now the underclass, and they advise Russell not to employ violence in any form. The robots are trying to learn about human emotions, hoping to understand the link between hate and the urge to kill…and if their test subjects do display that emotion, the robots will finally learn how to ultimately subdue the humans.

written by Tony Barwick
directed by Charles Crichton
music by Derek Wadsworth

Guest Cast: Tony Anholt (Tony Verdeschi), Nick Tate (Alan Carter), Zienia Merton (Sandra Benes), Billie Whitelaw (Zamara), Leigh Lawson (Zarl), Geoffrey Bayldon (Number Eight)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

A gravitational force draws the Moon off of its course. Moonbase Alpha’s computer, which has already been acting strangely, can find no signs of whatever may be causing the anomaly. Koenig orders a full-scale evacuation, and another spacecraft approaches the Moon – an early version of the same Eagles used by Koenig and his crew. A voice hails them from that Eagle, introducing himself as the ship’s captain, but when the Eagle lands at Moonbase Alpha, there’s no sign of the Eagle’s crew – and the captain’s voice is coming from a mobile computer which christens itself Brian. Detaching himself from his Eagle’s control console, Brian pays a visit to Moonbase Alpha, making wisecracks at the crew and earning their trust. But while giving Koenig and Dr. Russell a tour of his Eagle, Brian takes off with them inside – threatening to kill them unless they help him acquire a new power source.

written by Jack Ronder
directed by Kevin Connor
music by Derek Wadsworth

Guest Cast: Tony Anholt (Tony Verdeschi), Bernard Cribbins (voice of Brian / Captain Michael), John Hug (Fraser), Marc Zuber (Security lieutenant), Michael Sharvell-Martin (Brian robot), Annie Lambert (First operative), Yasuko Nagazumi (Yasko)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

As the Moon approaches a blue planet, the female crewmembers of Moonbase Alpha begin to feel strange effects. A robed man appears on the screen, and then in the middle of the Main Mission, claiming to be the being who created humanity. A skeptical Koenig asks the seemingly human being, Magus, to demonstrate his power by sending the Moon back to Earth, but Magus instead offers a new Earth. When Koenig, Dr. Russell, Tony and Maya go to investigate the planet’s surface, Magus makes that offer a demand: the landing party is to stay in his new garden of Eden, mate and produce offspring. But Magus has even decided who will be mated to whom, pairing Koenig with Maya and Tony with Dr. Russell. To force the issue, Magus even makes the Eagle vanish from its landing site. When they discover that there are male-female pair of other species stranded on the planet as well, Koenig and his crew are attacked by Magus. Cut off from any contact with Alpha, Koenig and the others must figure out how to unmask their new would-be god.

written by Terence Feely
directed by Charles Crichton
music by Derek Wadsworth

Guest Cast: Tony Anholt (Tony Verdeschi), Nick Tate (Alan Carter), Guy Rolfe (Magus), Bernard Kay

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Alan Carter and a Moonbase Alpha geologist are mining much-needed minerals from beneath the moon’s own surface, and his expedition makes an astonishing find – two humanoid figures, perfectly preserved in some sort of suspended animation chamber. Alan touches the device and receives a nearly fatal shock. Dr. Russell and Tony Verdeschi arrive to take charge, but before any progress can be made in reviving the two mystery men, a cave-in occurs, forcing Tony and Alan to break into the chamber and rescue the two men before they’re crushed. As they recover quickly, Maya recognizes the rescued father and son as natives of Archanon, a planet whose residents are renowned for spreading peace across the galaxy. But the crew finds out too late that Pasc, the elder alien, has a disease unique to the Archanons, a disorder which results in violent impulses and actions. Worse yet, there’s every indication that Pasc has passed the disease on to his son.

written by Lew Schwartz
directed by Charles Crichton
music by Derek Wadsworth

Guest Cast: Tony Anholt (Tony Verdeschi), Nick Tate (Alan Carter), John Standing (Pasc), Michael Gallagher (Etrec), Veronica Lang (Lyra / Maurna), John Alkin (Johnson), John Hug (Fraser), Anthony Forrest (Carson), Raul Newey (Dr. Raul Nunez), Yasuko Nagazumi (Yasko)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Koenig, Tony Verdeschi and Maya are en route to explore an Earthlike world when their Eagle develops an oxygen leak. Koenig sends Verdeschi back to pick up a different Eagle, while he and Maya explore the planet. Maya spots edible vegetation, but when Maya picks and flower Koenig bites into a handful of berries, they hear screams – and a voice proclaims them guilty of murder. Cutting off the explorers’ contact with Moonbase Alpha, the voices claim to be the Judges of Luton, and force Koenig and Maya to fight a trio of previous transgressors. Koenig and Maya evade the three hulking aliens for as long as possible, and then Koenig tries to convince them not to fight – a potential truce to which the Judges take exception.

written by Charles Woodgrove
directed by Val Guest
music by Derek Wadsworth

Guest Cast: Tony Anholt (Tony Verdeschi), David Jackson (Alien Strong), Godfrey James (Alien Transporter), Roy Marsden (Alien Invisible), Yasuko Nagazumi (Yasko)

Notes: David Jackson went on to star, a year and a half later, as one of Blake’s 7; in later interviews, he likened the experience to “acting with a tent over your head.” Koenig reveals that he was married on Earth, but his wife was a casualty of a catastrophic global war; Dr. Russell reminds him of her.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

A planet is detected with traces of minerals vital to Moonbase Alpha’s survival, and the command staff takes a survey Eagle down to explore the surface. What they don’t expect to find is a large, glowing mineral deposit. They cut off a sample and return to the Eagle with it, but during routine examination, it emits a bright life and Tony falls to the floor, dead. Commander Koenig’s first instinct is to leave the planet immediately, though Maya and Dr. Russell feel that the key to learning what happened to Tony, or perhaps reviving him, lies with further study of the rock sample. As Koenig leads the survey team back out to the surface, Dr. Russell is stunned when Tony rises and walks out of the Eagle, returning a short while later with another chunk of the glowing rock. The survey teams rushes back to the Eagle, where power has been drained and contact has been lost with Moonbase Alpha. When Koenig moves to remove the new sample, it seems to attack him too, though not fatally. With time running out, Koenig is now convinced that not only is the rock a life form, but it’s been subtly guiding the mission from the start.

written by Keith Miles
directed by Ray Austin
music by Derek Wadsworth

Guest Cast: Tony Anholt (Tony Verdeschi), Nick Tate (Alan Carter), Patrick Mower (Dave Reilly)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Small glowing objects appear all over the station, and the first two people to touch them are blinded. Not long afterward, a booming voice contacts the Moonbase, bellowing “Ahoy there, Moonbase Alpha!” Moments after requesting permission to land (and not really getting it), a large orange spacecraft appears on the moon’s surface, followed by the appearance of its rotund captain, identifying himself as a trader named the Taybor, in Alpha’s command center. It is clear that the Taybor has been monitoring Koenig and his crew for some time, as he seems to know quite a bit about them, and even invites himself to stay for dinner. During that meal, Tony Verdeschi finally finds an admirer of his home-brewed beer in the crew’s guest, and when his tongue is a bit loosened, the Taybor reveals that his craft is capable of making hyperspace jumps, a technology that intrigues Koenig. The commander tries to barter with the Taybor for passage to Earth for the entire crew, but the trader wants only one thing in exchange – Maya.

written by Thorn Keyes
directed by Bob Brooks
music by Derek Wadsworth

Guest Cast: Tony Anholt (Tony Verdeschi), Willoughby Goddard (The Taybor), Jeffrey Kissoon (Dr. Ben Vincent), John Hug (Fraser), Yasuko Nagazumo (Yasko), Larraine Humphrys (Karen), Rita Webb (Slatternly Woman), Mel Taylor (Andrews)

LogBook entry by Earl Green